Face Value (album) explained

Face Value is the first studio album by English drummer and singer-songwriter Phil Collins. It was released on 13 February 1981 on Virgin Records internationally and on Atlantic Records in North America. After his first wife filed for divorce in 1979, Collins began to write songs during a break in activity from his band Genesis with much of the material concerning his personal life. The album was recorded from mid-1980 to early 1981 with Collins and Hugh Padgham as producers. Additional musicians include the Phenix Horns, Alphonso Johnson, and Eric Clapton.

Face Value was an instant commercial success and reached No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart for three weeks and No. 7 on the US Billboard 200. It has since sold over 5 million copies in the US and over 1.5 million in the UK. The album received widespread praise from critics. Its lead single "In the Air Tonight", released in January 1981, reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart and became known for its drum arrangement and use of gated reverb. In January 2016, Face Value was reissued with bonus tracks and new photography in the style of the original but featuring a present-day Collins.[1]

Background and writing

By 1978, Collins had been a member of English progressive rock band Genesis for almost eight years. After spending the first five as their drummer, he reluctantly accepted the role of frontman of the group in 1975 following the departure of their original singer Peter Gabriel. The band's nine-month world tour to promote ...And Then There Were Three... (1978)[2] became problematic for Collins's wife Andrea who complained that he was not at home enough and that should he commit to the full tour, she would not be there when he returns. Collins, however, maintained that the band were on the cusp of international breakthrough and the tour would pay dividends for the future. However, at the end of the tour, Andrea decided to take their two children to her parents in Vancouver, Canada. In an attempt to save his marriage, Collins moved to Vancouver, but it failed and returned to England in April 1979 with Andrea having agreed to return with the children.[2][3]

With Genesis members Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford working on their solo albums through 1979, Collins used some of his spare time to write songs. He had expressed a wish to make a solo album with "a lot of variety" of musical styles, including "songy stuff" and compositions similar to what he did in the jazz fusion group Brand X. He was also keen on what Brian Eno did and create "two or three minutes of just mood".[4] In his home in Shalford, Surrey, named Old Croft, Collins set up a synthesiser, piano, Roland CR-78 drum machine, and an 8-track tape machine in his bedroom, and recorded a collection of demos with backing tracks and early lyrics. He was not concerned with the quality of the recordings as what may have lacked in the recordings would have been salvaged with the emotion in the songs. There were numerous times where Collins stopped recording earlier than planned as the ideas were not working in the studio, leaving him to resume the following day. Collins based the majority of Face Value on the divorce he had endured, and used a solo album as an outlet for his feelings.

During the conception of the album, Collins had forged a close friendship with John Martyn and contributed towards Grace and Danger (1980), which contained a similar narrative relating to divorce and relationship breakdown. Some of Collins' material that he had written was performed by Genesis on Duke (1980), including "Misunderstanding", the arrangement of which remained unchanged. He had played "In the Air Tonight" and "If Leaving Me is Easy" to the group, but they were left out as Collins said they were "too simple for the band".

Early album titles included Interiors and Exposure. To release the album, Collins signed a solo contract with Virgin Records for UK distribution.[5] He did so to "leave the nest" and to ensure he could maintain full creative control over the music. Collins also felt that releasing the album on Charisma Records, the same label as Genesis, would have harmed its success due to the preconceived notions people have about bands and labels.[5] Collins thought a new label would benefit the casual listener and appeal to a wider audience.[6]

Production

Recording

Recording sessions for Face Value took place at the Town House in London between late winter of 1979 and early January 1981. The demos recorded onto 8-track were transferred onto 24-track. According to Classic Albums, in what was then considered a controversial move at the time, Collins, who grew up listening to American R&B as a child in Chiswick, decided to incorporate an R&B horn section, hiring the Phenix Horns, who played backup for Earth, Wind & Fire. Collins had asked a contact who knew the group if they were interested in playing, and upon their agreement their leader Tom Tom met with Collins who asked him to sing the sections where the horns were to be placed into a tape recorder. The group recorded their parts the following day.[5]

Collins produced the album himself with assistance from Hugh Padgham. Initially he considered George Clinton, Maurice White, or Phil Ramone until he realised that he merely wanted someone to endorse his own ideas.[6] Assistant recording engineer Nick Launay was hired after Collins was impressed with his work with Public Image Limited.[7] Collins was dissatisfied with initial test cuts of the album, describing them like a Queen album, "big, British and upfront".[6] He then listened to several black albums including ones by The Jacksons and a collection of soul artists in his own collection, and noticed a common link with technician Mike Reece who worked at a Los Angeles mastering lab. Reece prepared a cut which Collins was satisfied with.[6]

Songs

The simple style of music on Face Value was reasoned by Collins as his fondness of Weather Report's simple melodies and for black music.[6] Collins controversially included drum programming rather than just live drum instrumentation despite his reputation as a drummer. Collins said he wanted to experiment with different sounds and was inspired by the work of his former bandmate Peter Gabriel, who had used drum programming on his last album. Collins was part of these sessions. Many of the songs' arrangements were done by Collins and session arranger Tom Tom 84. He incorporated Indian-styled violins, played by L. Shankar, for additional textures.

The last recording session for Face Value was in January 1981, prior to the release of the first single, "In the Air Tonight". Atlantic CEO Ahmet Ertegun advised Collins to perform drums during the verses and opening of the song, whereas the album version does not feature live drumming until the bridge. Several songs on the album feature an autobiographical view into Collins' life at the time, mainly to the anger he felt at his impending divorce. Rumours about "In the Air Tonight" being similarly autobiographical were widely circulated in America; in fact, the lyrics were ad-libbed and have no actual meaning.[6] "You Know What I Mean" (a song that was used on Frida's Something's Going On album) and "If Leaving Me Is Easy" are solemn ballads that talk of heartbreak. "I Missed Again" also had a solemn tone but was revised as a peppier song while still focusing on the theme of heartbreak. The jazzy ballad "This Must Be Love" focuses on Collins' then new romance at the time with Jill Tavelman, who would be his second wife (and second divorce).

The album features songs of different genres. While technically a rock and pop offering, the basis of many of the tracks lies in R&B with light funk influences, especially in "I'm Not Moving", for which Collins sang his backgrounds with a vocoder. "Droned" and "Hand in Hand" are progressive rock instrumentals, with the first featuring an exotic African sound, while "Hand in Hand" features jazz elements, a black children's choir from Los Angeles humming the music, and improvisational instrumentation by Collins and the Phenix Horns.[6] "The Roof Is Leaking" has Delta blues and country elements. "Behind the Lines" was originally recorded by Genesis on Duke album as a progressive rock number. Collins worked up a horn-driven R&B/funk-inspired arrangement after speeding up the tape on the Genesis version and thinking that the sped-up version sounded like a Michael Jackson song. The cover of The Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows" includes instruments and vocals playing in reverse while Collins provided multi-layered background vocals and sparse drumming. After the song ends, Collins can be heard quietly singing "Over the Rainbow" in reference to the recent murder of John Lennon; this final song is unlisted on most releases of the album (the original US cassette version being an exception), and would be the only time Collins used a hidden track on one of his own releases.

Packaging

Collins regarded Face Value as a highly personal project, which gave rise to the iconic cover art with Collins' face in extreme close-up, originally intended to symbolise the listener "getting into his head"; the reverse side of the sleeve shows the rear of his head, although the CD version of the album placed this image on the insert card instead. To emphasise the personal nature of the album, Collins' also hand wrote all of the liner and sleeve notes, even down to the legal statements on the outer circumference of the centre label of the disc itself. Both of the main visual elements of Face Value — the facial close-up, and the handwritten notes — would became a motif of Collins' subsequent albums until 1996's Dance into the Light. Rather than write "Phil Collins" in the liner notes, Collins wrote "Me".[5]

Commercial performance

Released on 13 February 1981,[8]Face Value became an immediate success, reaching No. 1 in the UK, Canada, and other European countries, while peaking in the top ten in the U.S. "In the Air Tonight" became the album's biggest hit, reaching No. 2 in the UK, No. 1 in three other countries, and becoming a top twenty hit in the U.S. Other songs such as "I Missed Again" found modest success reaching No. 14 in the UK and No. 19 in the U.S., while the third single, "If Leaving Me Is Easy", reached No. 17 in the UK but was not released in America. Sales of the album reached five million in the U.S. and went five-times platinum in the UK and ten-times platinum in Canada. No solo tour was produced from this album.

Critical reception

Face Value was released to critical acclaim. AllMusic's William Ruhlmann rated Face Value four-and-a-half out of five stars. He stated: "Collins proves himself a passionate singer (and distinctive drummer) with a gift for both deeply felt ballads and snarling rockers." Steve Pond of Rolling Stone rated it three out of five stars. He explained that "[Collins] keeps the fluid vocal tone he's lately developed in Genesis, yet ignores the group's high-blown conceits in favor of some basic pop and R&B lessons". He also called the album "pop music about personal turmoil". However, he stated that "the singer's broken heart is too clearly on his sleeve, and musical missteps abound".

Writing for Ultimate Classic Rock in 2013, Will Levith described the album as a "now-classic" which "featured one of the dopest ’80s songs too: 'In the Air Tonight', which just about everybody has played air drums to one time or another". However, he described the cover of the Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows" as "absolutely atrocious" and queried: "Why Collins thought it was necessary to lay such a giant turd on an otherwise awesome album is beyond us."[9] In 2016, Dorian Lynskey of The Guardian described Face Value as "an intriguing debut, wandering between art-rock and soulful MOR... Face Values most potent quality was its emotional transparency. Like the pensive portrait on the cover, the songs addressed the listener with unflinching directness."

Nigel F from Scunthorpe Telegraph gave the 2016 reissue a brief, but very positive review, praising Collins' hits such as "In the Air Tonight" and claiming the reworked material "sounds as fresh as ever". He also praised the additional content of the reissue as well, giving the album a 10/10 score in the end. Writing for Dorset Echo Joanna Davis gave the reissue a positive review, praising how "In the Air Tonight" sounds crystal-clear in the new surround sound and claiming most tracks stand the test of time, although some, like "If Leaving Me Is Easy," "belong in the forgotten land of 80s ballads preceded by a saxophone introduction".[10] Icon Fetch reviewer, Tony Peters, was hugely positive about the album, acclaiming it as "not only his finest work, it’s also an incredible piece of catharsis following the breakup of a relationship" and praising the overall diversity of the music and concluding that it is one of the greatest albums of the decade.[11]

Track listing

Notes

Several original vinyl copies have "Play Loud" etched into the album's inner groove where the matrix number is typically found. This may be because the record's baked-in volume is relatively low compared to others'.

The album was re-released and remastered by Steve Hoffman for the Audio Fidelity label in 2010.[12]

A 2-disc remastered version of Face Value was released on 29 January 2016 and contains live songs and demos.[13]

Demos

There were many songs which were omitted from the album including:

"Please Don't Break My Heart" [demo released in mp3 through website in 2011]